Awesome run...with one glitch

Took an amazingly awesome run today.  Was so excited to wake to the cool & foggy morning, perfect for a looooong run of 10-11.  The  I chatted on the phone in my car for 1.5 hrs to a good friend & by then it was sunny & warm.  Totally worth it soul food chat though and so I was still jazzed about a solid run.  Leaving for camping later today & need to pack, clean the house (am I the only one who tries to clean before going somewhere for a few days because when I return I know I will love it?), pick up dude for swim lessons, yadda yadda...before my brain could get overloaded and I tanked my run to go home & do chores, I set out.  In my heart I wanted to put in a good show of 10-11 miles so my training log would know I was serious about a few Halfs in the Fall & a Marathon in January but my mind was saying I might do a solid 6., which isn't a bad run at all.

So the music was rad (12 new tunes carried me through, a few on multiple repeat..Titanium by Sia and Moves like Jagger, big fav's), the body felt great ( a nagging right achilles, have PT next Tuesday whew!) and overall just felt golden.  I was sailing.  Pushed myself out on to Rodota for 6 miles so I knew in order to get back and to my car at Ragle I would most likely end up at 10-11 miles.  It was pretty rough to run right by my house at mile 9 as I was dragging in the heat but worth it.  Clocked out at 11.2 miles, and feel great...tired & sore hamstrings but strong.  I think the hamstrings and butt are so sore because I kicked it into high gear a few times & did sprints (thank you Sia) or maybe because of a huge ride Monday & over half mile lake swim yesterday, which makes for a RAD week of fitness.  So I was feeling GROOVY...and then...the big glitch I am still fuming about.

I was on the Rodota and happened to be in the area of the trail where there weren't any people & as I make my way I see a man join the path out of the corner of my eye.  I had passed him before, a handsome young man with lots of arm & neck tattoos and a basketball jersey & shorts.  Not in running gear but not street clothes.  When I passed him an hour back on the trail I waved and he waved back.  Now he was on the trail again & looked to be walking but was doing short jogs here & there but wasn't wearing running shoes.  So all in all for some reason I got a *feeling* and I didn't like it.  I never ignore my gut, ever.  So I took out my earphones and stopped running & stood at the side of the trail fiddling with my shuffle as he walked by.  I looked him straight in the eye and said "Hello" and he said hello back and didn't look too menacing but I still had an odd feeling.  Just as I was contemplating going out on to the road to run in the bike lane (Hwy12) a biker came by and then I looked and saw the trail opened up from the foliage and the trail could be seen from the road, so I was visible to drivers, so I decided to continue.  I passed Jersey guy and even blatantly looked back a few times to see where he was and he was just slowly walking.  I continued my run and passed a few runners and bikers and that should have put me at ease but now I was PISSED.  I had totally lost my mojo, I used to feel light & breezy & awesome and now I felt deflated, my neck was tight and my energy had fizzled.  I was mad at the guy and it isn't even his fault!  I am not nearly the nervous nelly I used to be as far as running trails alone but I always have some sort of guard or awareness up when running in an area where I don't see too many people & when a lone man with weird energy is on the trail with me, it skeeves me out & pisses me off.

I know that this guy was making me nervous for some reason, something was in the air that I felt & I won't ignore that & I'm glad I took the time to pay attention to that feeling but I also know that some people who can do bad things are the ones you least expect.  Like the 70-ish year old man walking his dog could be a creepo or the nice woman who just smiled at you, after the J.Duggard story...it makes me sick that I should be leery of women as well since you just never know.  So all in all I am pissed off that my insanely great run was ruined by a few minutes of feeling the hair on my neck stand up which in turn deflated my bubbling energy for the last 5 miles of my run.  I kept thinking about how angry I was in college when my boyfriend would skateboard to my house at 2am or 3am, usually a bit tipsy but having just been out cruising around campus under a starry sky and being...out.  As a 22 yr old woman in a college town if I were out at 2am, bike riding or skateboarding I would have been asking for trouble and that always, always made me angry.  I guess it still does.  I am a much more confident & self aware woman now than ever, I usually don't let fear or nerves deter me.  I know this is Sebastopol and not Compton, I know I am 37 and not 15 but still....it makes me angry & sad to think that as a woman I have to take time out of my run or whatever to be aware of my surroundings, it's not fair.  I really do have a great deal of faith & trust in humanity in general, and in hindsight I don't think jersey boy was out to cause any havoc on the trail ...but it didn't stop me from harboring some crazy thoughts today.  Funny how it would have been truly un-PC and borderline harassment/rude to ask him "hey, so you aren't going to try and drag me off the trail or anything right? Ok, just had to ask...we're cool? ok, bye" but I think it would have put me at ease to clear the air :-)  Sad that it is rude for me to say something like that to a stranger but the balance of the universe is such that my run got all tense and anxious, and it's not his fault but it is NOT my fault either for being a woman on an empty trail just wanting to enjoy her run.

Aside from that crappy little glitch, the run wrapped up perfectly, I am sore, tired, feel strong, good, and accomplished .... in a lot of ways.